A Life & Adventure Blog by Clariza Jane

First Hiking Trip of Fall 2016

Like most people, I love Fall. Summer comes to and end and the air starts to smell cleaner, the breeze is cooler and crisper, leaves are falling, and of course, ideal weather for hiking! Like we do every year, we make sure that we always head to Shenandoah as many times as we can before the weather gets too cold. We’re happy that that time of the year is upon us again and so is Presley!

The drive to Shenandoah National Park thankfully isn’t too far. Just a little over an hour… surprisingly, driving an hour away from home brings us to far enough away from the city and in the middle of beautiful mountains, trees and fresh air!

Driving through Skyline drive is absolutely amazing, any time of the year really, but of course the most magical time is during the Fall. We went on our first hiking trip early into the season so the leaves haven’t had a chance to fully change yet but we’re looking forward to the next few trips and seeing the transitions in colours.

Here’s a shot from the trail we were hiking on. You can see why they’re called the ‘Blue Ridge Mountains’.

This trip was only a half-day trip since we left a little bit later in the day so we hiked a shorter trail. The entire first half was all up-hill, and while Presley absolutely loves doing the hikes off leash and stays on the trail only a few feet ahead of us and thankfully keeps from being distracted, he’s still a pug and pugs do get tired after a bit, so this year we came prepared with our new K9-Sportsack!

Pugs are often thought of as being lazy, pudgy dogs but what a lot of people don’t know is that they can be quite athletic! This said, they do get tired and the fatigue should never be overlooked.

Pres loves going on adventures, and as much as we possibly can, we try to take him to any place that will allow us. We recently went to NYC, which I’ll have a full post on soon, and went with a dog stroller in tow. While the stroller is such an awesome accessory to have while getting around the city when he gets tired and being able to carry his things with ease, the Sport Sack is perfect for activities like this. While he’s only 25 lbs, it can be so tiring holding him your arms after a while, so the Sport Sack makes all the difference.

As with all trips to Shenandoah, the views were absolutely amazing. Our next trip out there we’re planning to make a weekend of it and take Presley camping. We’re hoping we can get a good group of people to come with us on some of our adventures before winter hits! (PS. I ALWAYS bring s’mores making supplies every camping trip!)

If anyone’s interested in coming out to Shenandoah with us, doing a day hiking trip and possibly a winery or two, or a weekend trip of hiking and camping, just let us know!!!